Mispick and smash preventer for shuttles



Patented sept. 20, I898.

No. 6ll,2|3.

a. FAIR.

MISPICK AND SMASH P'REVENTEB FOR SHUTTLES.

(Application filed Aug. 27, 1897.)

3' Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

Q6/0130 Fail/r a. FAIR.

MISPIGK AND SMASH PREVENTEB FOR SHUTTLES.

(Application filed Aug. 27, 1897.)

No. 6|l,2l3 Patented Sept. 20, I898.

(No Mddel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

WITNESSES- //\/\/E/\/ T R- @%%W $2 7 MykQ I Patented Sept. 20, I898.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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.nlllllll llll] llhllllllllllfllllll WW."

Ne. 6|l,2l3.

a. FAIR.

IIISPICK AND SMASH PBEVENTEB FOR SHUTTLES.

(Application filed Aug. 27, 1397.)

(No ModeI TEL-J1 \A/ITNEESEE- llNiTED STATES A PATENT FFICE.

GEORGE FAIR, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE FAIR LOOM ATTACHMENT COMPANY, OF'SAME PLACE AND PORTLAND, MAINE.

MISPICK AND SMASH PREVENTER FO R SHUTTL ES.

SPEClFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,213, dated September 20, 1898. Application filed August 27, 1897. Serial No. 649,717. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE FAIR, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mispick and Smash Preventers for Shuttles, of which the following is a description suffioiently full, clear, and exact to enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains or with which it is most nearly connected to make and use the same.

This invention has relation to means embodied in the construction of a shuttle to adapt it to efiect the stopping of a loom just before the weft or filling is exhausted from the cop or bobbin in the shuttle in order at that time to prevent a broken or mis pick and the consequences thereof in the fabric produced.

The terms broken pick, partial pick, and mispiok are employed herein in their technical or shop sense, the former terms indicating a partial pick of the weft-thread and the last term meaning no pick or the entire absence of a weft or shuttle thread in the shed after the passage of the shuttle.

The means commonly employed prior to my invention to stop the loom when the weft failed, either from being broken or from running out from the cop or bobbin in the shuttle, was the weft-fork. With this device so long as the weft remained intact the weftfork was tilted on its pivot and escaped, beingacted upon by the knocking-off means; but when the weft broke or ran out, as before indicated, there being no weft present to actuate or tilt the fork, the loom was knocked off or stopped.

As the weft-fork in existing machines is arranged to be operated upon between the selvage of the cloth being woven andthe shuttle when in the shuttle-box, it will be understood that in the operation of the loom the latter will not be knocked off until after the weft-thread fails and the shuttle has completely traversed the shed andhas landed in its box, thus nearly always resulting in a broken pick or a mispick.

In the weaving of all fabrics if a broken or mis pick is allowed to go uncorrected the cloth produced will be imperfect and be subject to discount in sales. In case the matter is corrooted at the time of weaving the cloth the broken pick must of necessity be picked out and the loom turned back to find the proper shed in order to enable the weaver to go on again in an orderly way in the production of perfect goods. All this occasions considerable wastage and much loss of time, as is well known to weavers and those skilled in the operation of looms.

Prior to my invention the mischief of a broken pick or a mispick, as I have already stated, nearly always occurred when the weft or filling thread was exhausted from the cop or bobbin in the shuttle. By my improvements the loom is controlled by mechanical means from means in the shuttle, so as to obviate or prevent the aforesaid mischief at the time mentioned. At other times than when the weft or filling is nearly exhausted from the shuttle-as when, for instance, the weftthread breaks with a substantial supply still in the shuttle-the commonly-employed weftfork or other known means will be relied upon to detect broken picks and mispicks.

In addition to preventing partial and mis picks when the filling-thread from the shuttle is nearly exhausted my invention serves the purpose of preventing smashes by the lodgment of the shuttle in the shed or from the failure of the shuttle being sent fully home in its box.

To these ends my invention consists of the improved shuttle and its equipment and to means coacting therewith whereby the specified results or functions are attained, as will hereinafter fully appear.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawin gs, and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a simple form of my invention, showing the same as though applied to a certain form of shuttle and as though the shuttle were in the box and the invention operating on a finger or rod extending up from a rock-rod, which may be or act like a protection-rod to knock oif a loom to effect a stopping of the same. Fig. 2 is a front view of Fig. 1, a part of the shuttle being broken out to show the manner in which the inner end or portion of the feeler finger or rod forming a part of my invention may be constructed to rest or be brought to bear upon the base of the cop. Fig. 3 is a plan view somewhat similar to that of a portion of Fig. 1, but showing the yarn on the spindle or quill in the shuttle as though nearly exhausted or run out. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic front elevation, partially in section, of the lay of a loom and some of its immediate connections, showing the manner in which the several parts may be related with respect to my invention, the shuttle-binder or swell being represented as cut 0%. Fig. 5 is a diagram, on a small scale, of my invention as applied to a shuttle operating in a box provided with a swell or binder. Fig. 6 is a plan view of part of a shuttle provided with my invention, showing the manner in which the latter cooperates with a bobbin instead of a cop in the shuttle, the bobbin in this figure being shown as full. Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but showing the yarn as nearly exhausted from the bobbin, parts being shown as in section or as broken out. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of what is represented in Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a detached view of the swell on a shuttle-box, showing how the same may be slightly modified in form in the use of my invention, as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a portion of the end of a shuttle provided with my improvements, parts being shown as broken away and the shuttle being shown as provided with a split spindle to hold the cop thereon, the split in the spindle extending through the latter horizontally, and showing how the said opening or split in the spindle may be utilized in connection with myinvention. Fig. 11 is a plan view of what is shown in Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a view similar to what is represented in Fig. 11, but showing the yarn on the spindle as having been exhausted to an extent that will permit my invention to eifect the stopping of the loom before the yarn is entirely run out or exhausted. Fig. 13 is a sectional view taken on the line 15 15 of Fig. 12.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, ct designates the loom-frame. b is the lay. c is the shuttle-box. cl is the picker-stick. e is the protection-rod arranged below the lay, or for that matter it may be any suitably-arranged rock-rod (spring-actuated in one direction, as is the usual protection-rod on a loom) adapted to act as a knock-off for the loom, and f is the shuttle. All the parts so far mentioned are of usual construction and function or of such construction as to come within the skill of an ordinary mechanic, excepting the shuttle when equipped with my improvements, to be presently explained.

The leading feature of my invention is a feeler-finger g, with which I equip the shuttle so that one part (as the inner or free end portion) 71. shall rest upon the yarn of the cop or bobbin in the shuttle in such manner that such part It shall ultimately be brought to bear upon nearly the last of the coils of the yarn to be drawn off, another portion of the body of the feeler-fingerprojecting beyond the substantially extreme outlines of the body of the shuttle so long as the inner or free end portion rests upon the said coils of yarn. As is shown in the drawings, the feeler-fingerg may be made of sufficiently stout wire, be hinged to the shuttle at one end,as at t,swell outward, as at j, through a slot 9 in the shuttle or otherwise beyond the extreme outlines of the shuttle, and at its other end or end portion rest upon the base of the cop or bobbin 70. As is clearly indicated at Z in Fig. 2, I prefer, though it is not essential, to form an angular offset in the inner end portion h of the feelerfinger g, in order to give the said feeler-finger greater throw in its operation and more bearing-surface on the yarn.

m designates a finger connected at its lower end with a rock-rod e and extending up inside of the shuttle-binder or swell or within the shuttle-box in the path of travel of the swell portion j of the feeler-finger g on the shuttle. When the inner end of the feelerg rests upon yarn on the cop, the swell j will be held out beyond the outline of the shuttle at the point where the said swell is located and act upon the finger m to move it back, rock the rod e to the extent that the finger m is moved back, and so prevent the dagger e on the rod 6 from operating the stop-motion mechanism to stop the loom and hold the lay back, and this operation will continue even when the yarn of the cop runs as low on the spindle of the shuttle as is shown in Fig. 3.

When, however, the shuttle (with the yarn as low as represented in Fig. 3) is picked through the shed again and back, the yarn will be drawn off the shuttle spindle or quill from under the inner end of the feeler-finger g, and the latter will be allowed to be pressed inward, so as to be inefficient by way of a means for acting on the finger m to rock the rod 6 and thus effect the stoppage of the loom and the holding back of the lay, and this operation will take place,as before said, even though there may yet be, as in practice there will be, yarn enough in the shuttle to prevent the weft-fork from knocking off the loom before, say, two full picks are made.

It will be seen that my invention may be employed for the specific. purpose mentionedthat is, for stopping the loom just before the yarn from the shuttle is exhaustedand thus avoiding mis or broken picks at that time, as well as that for effecting the knocking off of the loom to prevent smashes.

In using the invention to prevent smashes it will be understood that the finger 4% will be connected with the protector-rod the same as the usual finger employed as it has heretofore been to be acted upon by the shuttlebinder or swell, excepting that it is made to extend up on the inner side of the swell, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, so that if the shuttle should become lodged in the shed or should 611,213 I g a fail to fully. enter the shuttle-box the finger in will not be pressed back by the swell j of the feeler g, and hence the loom will be knocked off. Detailed illustration and description of the stopping and all of the knocking-off mechanism is not herein given, since it forms no part of my invention and since such mechanism, in connection with the protector-rod, is well understood by Weavingartisans.

In Fig. 5 the shuttle is shown as in its box and the swell n as operating thereon in the usual way, excepting that it does not assist in controlling the protection-rod. The swell '11, however, is slightly modified in form to permit of the use of my invention, the said modification consisting in forming a shallow longitudinal groove 0 on the inner face of the swell and making a vertical groove 1) also in the said inner face, (see Fig. 9,) back into which groove p the finger m may move by the action thereon of the swell j of the feelerfinger g, the groove 0 affording means for the swell j of the feeler-finger g to pass without serious contact with the shuttle-box swell n.

It will be noted that the finger m can be set on the protector-rod so that the latter may be allowed to operate sooner or later with respect to the amount of yarn on the spindle or bobbin, and it is desirable to form the shuttle f as is shown in Figs. 6 and 7, wherein the shuttle-body is portrayed as having a recess q opposite the point where the swellj occurs in the feeler-finger g and opposite the point where the latter feeler-finger acts on the said finger m, so that the swell j may be brought entirely within the line of the extreme front face of the shuttle, though still swell outward beyond the outlines of said recessed portion g.

In Figs. 6, 7, and 8 I have shown my invention as applied to a shuttle adapted to carry a bobbin r instead of a cop, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. In this case the construction and mode of operation will be substantially the same as that hereinbefore described in connection with the cop; but it will be seen, particularly by reference to Fig. 7, that the amount of yarn to be left upon the spindle of the bobbin may be graded or regulated with the utmost nicety. Supposing that the inner end of the feeler-finger g, resting upon the yarn, were not to be allowed to move far enough inward to allow the rod e to be operated to knock off the loom until all the yarn was drawn from under said end, it will be seen that the shuttle might reach the box with but one or two rounds of yarn on the bobbin and not sufficient for it to be picked across the shed and back again without running out. In this case a groove .9 may be formed in the base of the bobbin, and yarn sufficient to form at least two picks may be wound therein, so that the shuttle will with the utmost certainty stop on a particular side of a loomsay the left-hand side-after all but one or two rounds or coils of yarn under the inner end of the feeler have been drawn off from the bobbin. In Fig. 6 the bobbin is shown as full, and in Fig. 7 a representation is made of the yarn being drawn off the bobbin down next to the feeler-finger, as I have described. broken away there is shown a bobbin in the shuttle with sufficient yarn thereon to pick across the shed and back without employing the yarn in the groove 8.

In Figs. 10 to 13, inclusive, I have shown my invention as applied to a shuttle provided with a splitspindle upon which to hold the cop. In this case the spindle will be so arranged as that the split or opening 1: in the spindle may extend horizontally or face outward-that is, toward the operator standing in front of the loomand the feeler-finger g will'have its inner end so constructed as that when the yarn is drawn off the spindle from under the inner end of the finger said inner end will move into or through the slot-'0 of the spindle, as shown in Fig. 12. In this case the inner end of the feeler-finger is curled, as at w, such curled end being filed or cut down, so that it may move within the slot quite readily or easily.

These illustrations serve to show that with a little care in the manner of winding the yarn on the base of the bobbin orcop the invention may be employed so as to knock off the loom at any particular time with reference to the amount of yarn remaining on the spindle or bobbin.

In building a cop for special use in connection with my invention in split spindles, such as are shown in Figs. 10 to 13, inclusive, the winding may commence at a point above the base-say at the point wand then wound down to the-base, where the building of the cop may commence. In this instance coils of yarn would extend from the point ato the base, and the loom would be sure to be knocked oif at a particular point-that is, with a par-.

ticular number of coils still wound on the spindle.

.My improvement in a shuttle enables it,

just before the yarn is completely exhausted, to give the initial movement to mechanism in order to stop the loom, or it may as well be to set in motion some auxiliary mechanism to secure other results in connection with the operation of weaving. I therefore do not confine myself to any use that may be made of the invention, whether specified herein or not.

In said Fig. 8 through the part With my invention so long as the next to the last of the yarn to be drawn from the shuttle remains therein, and which yarn acts upon the feeler-finger g, a swell portion of the latter will be held outward to an appreciable extent beyond the bounds or outline of the shuttle where the swell occurs, and when the aforesaid portion of the yarn is drawn off, so that it may no longer influence'the position of the feeler-finger, the swell or portion formerly extending beyond the bounds of the shuttle may be moved inward within the same.

It is to be understood in connection with the foregoing that no part of the swell or outwardly-extending portion of the feeler-finger will have a projecting end or other feature that would be liable to catch upon the threads of the warp or otherwise render it inoperative as the shuttle is picked through the shed.

By extending the feeler-finger m up inside of the shuttle-binder or swell n I am enabled to secure the action of the swell of the feelerfinger g directly upon the said feeler m and not through the medium of the shuttle-binder or other means. This is an important feature of the invention, since it enables me to accomplish results that could not otherwise be readily attained-such, for example, as employing the invention to prevent smashes, as hereinbefore described.

It will be observed that with my invention smashes are prevented when the shuttle is partially boxed, so as to press the binder at outward, but still with the inner end of the shuttle extending into the shed, as well as when the shuttle is entirely lodged in the shed. This important function is not accomplished, in the emergency mentioned, by the commonly employed means for preventing smashes.

It is understood that the protector-rod is the initial part of the stopping or knocking off, and in some cases with other auxiliary means, and that the finger m is operatively connected with the protector-rod.

It Will be borne in mind that it is not intended herein to convey the idea that broken picks or mispicks are prevented by my invention at any other time than when it becomes necessary to resupply the shuttle with weft or filling yarn.

Having thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed isl. A shuttle provided with a recess, q, in its face and a slot formed through the front Wall of the body of the shuttle at the said re- 7 cessed point, combined with a feeler-finger provided with a swell adapted to extend through the slot, the said feeler-finger being pivoted at one end to the body of the shuttle and adapted at a point in its free portion to rest upon the next to the lastof the yarn to be drawn fromthe shuttle.

2. A shuttle provided with a slot formed through its front wall, combined with a feelerfinger provided with a swell adapted to extend through the slot, the said feeler-finger being pivoted at one end to the body of the shuttle and adapted at a point in its free portion to rest upon the next to the last of the yarn drawn from the shuttle, the shuttlebinder or swell, and a finger, an, arranged to extend up inside of the binder in the path of travel of the swell of the said feeler-finger to be directly acted upon by it, and means under the control of the finger m for stopping the loom.

3. A shuttle provided with a slot formed through its front wall, combined with a feelerfinger provided with a swell adapted to extend through the slot, the said feeler-finger being pivoted at one end to the body of the shuttle and adapted at a point in its free portion to rest upon the next to the last of the yarn drawn from the shuttle, the shuttlebinder or swell provided with longitudinal and vertical grooves, as described, and a finger m arranged to extend up inside of the binder in the path of travel of the swell of the said feeler-finger to be directly acted upon by it, and means under the control of the finger m for stopping the loom.

4. A shuttle equipped with a split spindle, the split in the spindle extending horizontally therethrough and the shuttle being provided with a recess q in its face and a slot formed through its front wall at the said recessed point, combined with a feeler-finger provided with a swell adapted to extend through the slot, the said feeler-finger being pivoted at one end to the body of the shuttle, and adapted at itsfree end to move into the split of the August, A. D. 1897.

GEORGE FAIR.

\Vitnesses:

ARTHUR W. (JRossLEY, ANNIE J. DAILEY. 

